Friday 1 January

It was entertaining to wake up this morning and read local news articles about how London’s fireworks were better than Sydney’s because they were better value for money 😉 – apparently Sydney’s cost $7 million for a 20 minute show, and London’s cost £1.8 million for a 15 minute show. We watched Sydney’s on a laptop and London’s on TV in our apartment. We enjoyed both, but there’s nowhere like home! Locals were also setting off fireworks around us, so we were able to watch some in Green Park from the balcony of our apartment.

  
Our big plan for today was to be up in time for lunch! Actually there is a New Years Parade in London that has been going for 30 years, and the starting point was at the end of our street outside the Ritz hotel, so I dragged everybody out in time to see the parade start. I didn’t count on having four out of eight travellers comPLAIN about waiting for it to start and about crowds 😕. All we had time to see was one band, bagpipers, a couple of horses and one float, until I was over the company I was in! 

  
We ducked down the nearest stairs to the underground, and caught the tube one stop to Piccadilly Circus. We met there a family from our Europe tour just after 12.30pm, and the twelve of us went out for lunch. We were discussing where we should go, when I realised a Jamie Oliver restaurant was around the corner. Amazingly they took the 12 of us without a booking!! Our catch up with the family from Brisbane was a lovely time, and the food was reasonably priced and delicious. 

   
   
After saying our goodbyes, I took everyone to Hamley’s toy store, the oldest toy store in the world, over seven floors. It was like FAO Schwarz in New York, and even had its own Build A Bear workshop on one of the floors. Which is where of course Belle decided to stop and spend some of her spending money. Zac, Sam and Abi all walked out with souvenirs as well, so from there we walked around to Lillywhite’s, a discount sports retailer so Jarrod and Tim could shop. Ross noticed the other day the store had a lot of EPL merchandise, so we convinced the boys to buy up there rather than wait until they visit Old Trafford which may cost more.

   
 Our next stop was M&M World, where we could barely MOVE due to the crowds! The Jones boys (all of them) didn’t enjoy it, so left it to the girls to get a souvenir there. We visited M&M World in New York as well and there were similar crowds and a similar buzz there. The marketing of these stores is so good, it would make a great case study. Remind me to do this when I get home…after I have translated the children’s books I bought in Rome and Paris…😊

   
 We grabbed dinner and were back at our apartment by 6.30pm. Ross, Jarrod and Abi went to bed early because they have a big day tomorrow (they leave for their Manchester United game at 7.30am). I watched the movie Tangled with the others, and now only Abi and I are awake. There isn’t a lot on TV we are interested in, and I have finished the books I brought, so – don’t judge, but – we are watching the finale of The US Bachelor, and I am going to do some adult colouring in!